Clico A new garden diningLOW (2)
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Fairlawns Boutique Hotel & Spa in Sandton

Accommodation package Valentines’ day 14 February: R 2 595.oo per suite, breakfast, bottle of bubbly on arrival in the room with strawberries and cream; a romantic rose petal bed turn down plus less 15% on any reserved treatments in the Spa.

552EsperanzaSpaldingCourtesyofMontunoProductionsPhotoBySandr
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Esperanza Spalding

“She is probably one of the best things that’s happened to music in general. She crosses so many barriers”, said veteran singer Dee Dee Bridgewater after she listened to a tune from Esperanza Spalding’s latest recording in a Downbeat blindfold test. Bridgewater’s observation is no exaggeration. Indeed, Spalding is a rising star. Her bass-playing transfixes audiences and her multilingual singing hypnotises listeners, qualities that led US President Barack Obama to invite Spalding to perform for him at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo in 2009.
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Gazelle

Gazelle is more than a band. It is a satirical condemnation of corruption and antics by African despots. Using music, dance, art, photography and fashion, the group is an act of social commentary. On stage, Gazelle’s lead singer dresses as a stereotypical African dictator with leopard-skin pillbox hat and gold jacket. In addition to a CD, Gazelle’s debut album is boxed with a poster, a collection of photographs and a catalogue of street art. The music itself is a mix of electro, disco, funk, pop and African contemporary music. The group calls its sound “Lim Pop” to indicate the origins of its co-founder who comes from Limpopo.
Flames 3b
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The Flames – Official Reunion

It will definitely be a reunion when legendary band The Flames performs at this year’s Cape Town International Jazz Festival. Not only will the band, that disbanded in 1970, come together, but the group will connect with thousands of its fans. Formed by three Durban brothers in 1963, The Flames became a household name with regular performances in the country’s major cities. Steeped in Atlantic soul and Motown sound, The Flames rose to be one of the country’s top pop groups. The Flames is the first non-white South African band to reach the Top 20 charts of the whites-only Springbok Radio. This is before the group left for London in 1968.
G.I black energy
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Gang of instrumentals

Popularly known as GI, the band Gang of Instrumental’s claim to fame is its unique blend of soul, reggae, rock and kwaito. Members of the group describe themselves as “lieutenants of funk, corporals of beat and renegades of rhyme”. Formed in 2002 by three Johannesburg-based young artists, GI has become one of the country’s well-acclaimed pop group. The tune “Cry 4 Me” from the group’s debut album Kassi Flava was used to promote an AIDS campaign concert. A single “My Number One” from their second album received a South African Music Award (SAMA) nomination in the Record of the Year category. So was “Woza December” from GI’s latest offering, Round 3.  The witty lyrics sung in English and vernacular as well as the rockish sound in GI’s music has also made the band one of the country’s leading crossover band. “Oh Yeah” and “Flying High” from the 2008 CD have an appeal beyond the group’s youthful audience.
Earth, Wind& Fire
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Earth, Wind & Fire

During the 1970s, a new brand of pop music was born – one that was steeped in African and African-American styles – particularly jazz and R&B but appealed to a broader cross-section of the listening public. As founder and leader of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, Maurice White not only embraced but also helped bring about this evolution of pop, which bridged the gap that has often separated the musical tastes of black and white America. It certainly was successful, as EWF combined high-caliber musicianship, wide-ranging musical genre eclecticism, and ’70s multicultural spiritualism. “I wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before,” Maurice explains. “Although we were basically jazz musicians, we played soul, funk, gospel, blues, jazz, rock and dance music…which somehow ended up becoming pop. We were coming out of a decade of experimentation, mind expansion and cosmic awareness. I wanted our music to convey messages of universal love and harmony without force-feeding listeners’ spiritual content.”
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Hanjin

Known for his work as a music producer and songwriter for famous Cantonese pop artists like Jacky Cheung, Eason Chan and Leon Lai; Hong Kong-based Singaporean artist Tan Han Jin thrust himself to the fore when in November 2009 he launched his debut album, Raw Jazz. In the album, Tan who uses his first name for stage work, not only sings, but delivers 11 jazz standards that include Fats Waller and Andy Razaf’s “Honeysuckle Rose”, Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and Chick Corea’s “Spain”.
Simphiwe 2-012
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Simphiwe Dana

For anyone who doubts that Simphiwe Dana is the reigning queen of Afro-soul, must look at what the vocalist has achieved since the launch of her 2004 debut album, Zandisile. That CD not only went platinum, it won Dana the Best Newcomer and Best Jazz Vocal album prizes at that year’s South African Music Award (SAMA) ceremony. Her contemplative voice saw her walk away again with four SAMA awards for her 2006 The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street. For the same album Dana won a BBC Radio 3 award for the Best Artist in the category World Music – Africa in 2008. The achievements are consistent with the singer’s approach to life. “Everything eventually works when you follow your life passion. It will be difficult at first but everything eventually pans out well”, says the singer who describes her music as a natural progression from gospel.

Cape Town International Jazz Festival: Packed with the Best

Cape Town International Jazz Festival organisers had to wait for more than three years to be able to find space in saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s busy schedule and get him to perform at Africa’s Grandest Gathering. According to espAfrika and festival director Rashid Lombard, as organisers they have always wanted the 77-year old saxophonist to appear in Cape Town. “For years, it’s been our wish to get Wayne Shorter to the festival. As a touring artist we could never get the time right. We are thrilled that this round this living jazz legend could make”.

At the centre of every innovation that occurred in jazz in the last 50-years, Shorter leads his stellar quartet made up of pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade at the festival that takes place at Friday 25 and Saturday 26 March at Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). The quartet, whose members are bandleaders of note has been together since September 2000. Shorter whose introspective saxophone tone is engulfing assembled the acoustic group as he took a turn towards music that predate his association with bands like the jazz-rock fusion outfit, Weather Report.
@Youri Lenquette. Senegal. Dakar. 01/2010. Youssou N'Dour.
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Youssoun N’Dour at the Cape town Jazz Fest

Youssoun N’Dour needs no introduction to the global stage, having built such an iconic sound from out of Senegal and Africa as a whole. By 1996 he had sealed his worldwide status by having performed his duet 7 seconds with Nenah Cherry.
As an individual he has proven to be a champion of the people by representing the rights of the people. He has always shown an awareness of the political power that music wields.

As a man of the media and a fighter for citizens’ rights – from wiping out the African debt to the battle against malaria – Youssou N’Dour is well aware of the political importance of reggae, the music-genre directly linked to Rastafarianism, whose leading figure was the “Ras Tafari” Haile Selassie, the black Emperor of Ethiopia.